In the preparation of various specialty forms of ice cream, chocolate and other food products, a conventional freezer unit having a compressor is typically utilized to freeze or make firm the food product to facilitate forming to a desired configuration or to solidify/freeze the food product in the (molded) form. Typically, such freezer units are relatively expensive, require substantial space, are expensive to operate and the freezing process requires a relatively long period. This relative long freeze period, in turn, delays production and therefore increases the unit cost of production. Other disadvantages of the prior art freezer units are that they are relatively complicated, are not compact, generally are sumptuous in component parts, are cumbersome in design and are expensive to manufacture and must be constructed or affixed in a dedicated area of the production (shop, store or plant) site.
Thus, it should be recognized that for a long time hitherto there has existed an unresolved need for an inexpensive, easy, quick and compact means for fast freezing ice cream speciality forms and the like during production of such items, and to enable convenient location of the freezer unit proximate to the site of production, and to enable convenient storage of the freezer unit in a readily accessible, for example, shelf or table, location during periods when such specialty items are not in production.